Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna state, has described the federal government cash transfer policy as a scam.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, this week, cancelled plan to make transfer Nigerians, after many Nigerians criticized it.
Under the now botched plan, the federal government said over 12 million households would receive N8000 for six months.
The federal government had borrowed $800 million from the World Bank to execute the policy.
Not a few Nigerians criticized the plan, saying it would be a waste because the money is too small to ameliorate the sufferings of would-be beneficiaries.
Recall that the immediate past President of the country, Muhammadu Buhari administration claimed it spent several billion in cash transfer to many Nigerians as part of its social intervention policy.
But speaking on Friday on Arise Television, Governor Sani said the cash transfer policy is a fraud, citing, for instance, that the funds must have gone into wrong hands.
The Kaduna helmsman, a former Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Banking said it is impossible to make electronic transfer to people who have no bank account.
According to him, many poor households in the northern part of Nigeria, the federal government claimed received the cash transfer, have no bank accounts, and could not have benefited from the largesse meant to assist vulnerable Nigerians.
Sani said, “I think that cash transfer for me, in my opinion, is a scam. Completely is a scam. I can be very certain about that, because who are you transferring the money to?
“Let me give an example, go and check the current statistics. Like I said, as the Chairman, Committee of Banking for four years in Nigeria, I oversight Central Bank, I oversight all the commercial sector of our economy for the last four years and I look at the statistics, I will be very firm on this issue and you can go and check it.
“About 70 to 75 percent of the rural population in North West are financially excluded completely. You will have to go and check, these people we are talking about are important people in the society. They do not even have a bank account so who are you transferring the money to?
“Let’s put more money to ensure that we open accounts for them, get them involved, if we don’t do that, no matter what we do however you do it, money will go to the wrong people, that’s the fact.”
President Tinubu had cancelled the plan to distribute N8000 to some Nigerians, citing negative feedback across the country.